Home Office

Visas: Overseas Students

Lord Harris of Haringey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether all international students applying to study in the UK are required in their visa applications to submit bank statements showing that they have sufficient available funds to cover their living expenses in the UK; and if not, what are the criteria for selecting which students are required to do so, and to students from which countries this requirement applies.

Lord Harris of Haringey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what level of funds they deem sufficient to cover the living expenses in the UK of international students, and how this is calculated.

Lord Harris of Haringey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment have they made of the impact of the requirement that, in applying for a visa to study in the UK, international students should demonstrate they have sufficient available funds to cover their living expenses.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The maintenance requirements for Tier 4 (General) Students to cover living costs is set at the same level as the combined maximum maintenance loan and grant available to English students living away from home. These requirements are set out in paragraphs 153-176 of the Tier 4 Migrant Guidance.All students need to meet the same maintenance requirements; however, some students are not required to provide documentation with their applications to confirm this, although the Home Office retain the right to request these documents at any point during the visa process. The details of this are set out in Appendix H of the Immigration Rules.We will shortly be consulting on proposed changes to the non-EU work and study migration routes to see what more we can do to strengthen the system to support the best institutions – and those that stick to the rules – to attract the best talent.Interested parties, including businesses and members of the education sector, will have the opportunity to engage with this consultation to help us get these reforms right.

Asylum

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether local authorities are informed of the identity and location of asylum seekers who are housed on behalf of the Home Office in their area.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Home Office works closely with COMPASS providers and local authorities through Strategic Migration Partnerships to ensure the impacts of dispersal on local communities and services are considered when allocating accommodation to asylum seekers.Local authorities and statutory bodies are consulted prior to the proposed use of all new asylum accommodation. However, in accordance with data protection principles, the identity of individual applicants is not routinely shared.

Refugees: Syria

Baroness Helic: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the Syrian vulnerable person resettlement programme should be expanded to include victims of sexual violence and torture by Daesh and other armed groups in Iraq.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: Eligibility for the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement programme (VPR) is based on established vulnerability criteria used by the UNHCR, which includes those who have been victims of sexual violence and torture.Whilst the VPR is limited to Syrian nationals, the UK operates a number of other resettlement schemes which are open to all nationalities. This includes our long-running Gateway and Mandate schemes and our new Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement scheme. In the year ending June 2016, the UK resettled over 100 Iraqis under the Gateway and Mandate schemes.The UK continues to support humanitarian efforts by providing £79.5 million to help the three million Iraqis who have been displaced, and over eight million people in need, many of whom have been victims of Daesh’s abuses and persecution.

Department for Education

Languages

The Marquess of Lothian: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of UK nationals who speak a second language fluently; what strategy they have to improve foreign language skills in the UK; and what estimate they have made of the cost to the economy per year in lost trade resulting from the lack of foreign language skills.

Lord Nash: The 2011 Census does not include information about the number of UK nationals who speak a second language fluently. However, it shows that 7.7% of the population had a main language other than English. Studying a language provides an opening to other cultures and is important to prepare students to compete in a global jobs market. A 2013 report by Cardiff Business School, ‘The Costs to the UK of Language Deficiencies as a Barrier to UK Engagement in Exporting’, estimated that the gross costs of language ignorance might have been 3.5% of national income in 2006 - £48 billion. The Government is committed to increasing the proportion of the population gaining language qualifications. Thanks to the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), the number of students studying a language at GCSE has increased from 40% in 2010 to 49% in 2016. In August, we confirmed that EBacc entry would become a headline measure in school performance tables from this year, alongside EBacc achievement. This will encourage schools to enter more pupils for the EBacc and for languages in future, which should increase the pool of potential people studying languages at A level and beyond. The Higher Education and Research Bill, currently before Parliament, contains provisions that would allow Government to direct public funding to protect the supply of strategically or economically important subjects at university, such as modern foreign languages.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Kids Company

Baroness Barker: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the investigations into Kids Company by the Metropolitan Police and the Charity Commission to conclude and when they expect those bodies to report their findings.

Lord Ashton of Hyde: The Charity Commission has an ongoing statutory inquiry into Kids Company and will publish a report once its investigation has concluded. The Metropolitan Police Service announced that it had discontinued its investigation into Kids Company in January 2016.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Ethnic Groups

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in recruiting black and ethnic minority personnel to the armed services in each year from 2010 to 2015, excluding those from the Commonwealth.

Earl Howe: The Defence workforce is not representative of the demographic within society. In order to address this the Defence Diversity and Inclusion Programme was established to increase the diversity of the civilian and military workforce, and to create a more inclusive working environment in which people are able to reach their full potential. The Armed Forces are working towards a target of 10 per cent of recruits to come from Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic backgrounds by 2020, as announced by the Prime Minister prior to the 2015 election. Additionally, the Minister for the Armed Forces agreed a 15 per cent female recruitment target by 2020. Information on recruitment of black and ethnic minority people to the UK Armed Forces from 2010 to 2015, excluding those from the Commonwealth, is shown below.  Table 1:Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) intake6,7 to UK Regular Forces1 and Future Reserves 20202 (FR20) excluding personnel from the Commonwealth by calendar year 12 Month ending31 December 201031 December 201131 December 201231 December 201331 December 201431 December 2015UK Regulars and FR20***6008201,040UK Regulars370400500430570640FR203***160250400Source: Defence Statistics (Tri-Service)Rounding: Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. Numbers ending in 5 are rounded to the nearest 20 to avoid systematic bias. Totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not equal the sums of their rounded parts. *Unavailable 1. UK Regular Forces comprise full-time personnel but does not include Gurkhas, Full-Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel and Reservists.  2. Future Reserves 2020 includes volunteer reserves who are mobilised, High Readiness Reserves (HRR) and volunteer reserve personnel serving on Additional Duties Commitment (ADC) or FTRS contracts. Sponsored Reserves who provide a more cost effective solution than volunteer reserves are also included in the Army Reserve FR20. Non Regular Permanent Staff (NRPS), Expeditionary Forces Institute (EFI) and University Officer Cadets and Regular Reservists are excluded.   3. Figures for FR20 Volunteer Reserves are only available from April 2012 onwards. 4. It is not mandatory for Service personnel to declare their ethnicity on the Joint Personnel Administrative (JPA) system. Figures reflect the number of personnel who declared themselves as BAME on JPA.  5. Figures are based on personnel with a known nationality as reported on JPA. 6. Intake to UK Regular Forces comprises new entrants, re-entrants, direct trained entrants (including professionally qualified officers), intake to the Army from the Gurkhas and intake from the Reserves. All movements within the Regular Forces, including flows from untrained to trained strength, transfers between Services and flows from rank to officer due to promotion are excluded. 7. Intake to FR20 comprises new entrants, Regular to Reserve transfers, Reserve re-joiners, and Reserve personnel joining from another part of the Reserves that are not included in the FR20 target population. Intake to UK Regular Forces comprises new entrants, re-entrants, direct trained entrants (including professionally qualified officers), intake to the Army from the Gurkhas and intake from the Reserves. It excludes all movements within the Regular Forces; including flows from untrained to trained strength, transfers between Services and flows from rank to officer due to promotion.